Hands of Derketo

CodeMage · August 4, 2021, 3:34pm

I thought I would share my entry in the “Temple of the Gods” building contest. This is the best I could do with what little time I can spare these days. It was all built in single-player on PC, without any mods.

Hands of Derketo is a temple celebrating and exploring the dual nature of Derketo. The Right Hand of Derketo represents sensuality, fertility, comfort, and healing, whereas the Left Hand of Derketo represents lust, pain, occult, and death.

Upon approaching the Hands, the Guide will help you decide which path suits you the most on your quest to get closer to the Goddess.

At night, the temple glows with the inner light of Derketo.

The first floor of the Right Hand is dedicated to the sensual pleasures the Goddess offers. There is plenty of space to … get busy.

The second floor of the Right Hand is dedicated to healing and comfort.

The first floor of the Left Hand is an ongoing celebration of lust and pain. Whether you like it rough or you like to get rough, the acolytes will help you offer up your darker urges as a sacrament to Derketo.

The second floor of the Left Hand is dedicated to the mysteries of death and the study of the inner workings of mortal flesh.

Both paths lead to Derketo. One cannot exist without the other.

Before you approach the Goddess, you can stock up on odds, ends, and sundries you might need before, during, or after your worship.

stelagel · August 4, 2021, 4:05pm

@CodeMage
MAGNIFICENT
We both know that we are going to see wonders to applause in this contest. Some will do a cinematic presentation that will give to their build another dimension, yet the greatest bet in these contests is creativity and inspiration.
I see both, so

Ps. Do I have permission to upload my original vision for this contest?

SilvarMorganRosalia · August 4, 2021, 5:25pm

Good idea, rp, no mods, consistent. It lacks decoration and the two entries lack work. Some parts are too simplistic and do not create the immersion I would have liked to see. But it’s understandable with the deadline.
Nice realization. You’re in my top 3 with everything I’ve seen on youtube so far.

SamsonHF · August 4, 2021, 6:26pm

Looks amazing, man

sestus2009 · August 4, 2021, 7:26pm

Really do like this. No wonder I didn’t consider giving it a try definitely have to show this to my wife. Good job @CodeMage .

CodeMage · August 4, 2021, 10:35pm

Thanks, @stelagel, @SamsonHF, and @sestus2009 for the kind words

Yeah, I suck at decoration, especially the interior design. The one thing I can do decently is come up with fun architectural structure, and I can also add large-scale decorations like statues. As soon as we get to smaller details, like furniture, carpets, tapestries, and whatnots, I’m way out of my depth.

This is actually better than I used to make before, in terms of decoration

But yeah, I’d love to learn how to do it even better. This is already useful feedback as it is, but if you have any more concrete advice, I’d love to hear it.

I’m not sure what you’re asking. If you want to submit an entry to the contest, it’s still open for another 4-5 hours. But you need to send your entry to Funcom via e-mail, as per their instructions.

CodeMage · August 4, 2021, 11:14pm

Hell yeah, I love seeing the stuff people build

SilvarMorganRosalia · August 5, 2021, 8:43am

The points I see or you could work on are the following:
Manhood potion and gray lotus go hand in hand. You could add gardens with gray lotus. Maybe also a wine cellar for orgies. Not sure but add wallpaper to the walls.

In Zembabwe she has kept her name Derketo but is married to the god Dagon, some orgiastic ceremonies re-enact the mating renewing the world of Dagon and Derketo.

The devolved drowned Insignia could be used.

The symbol of Derketo is the fish, representing its powers of fertility and life, and in Shem it is frequently associated with the river of life, the Styx.

But if you’re more into delirium with set. You could add some details reminding it.

Possibly place the building near a river. And fish traps.

Work on the wall surrounding the central building. It’s good to have put this so that the central building feels less lonely, but this is the part that lacks the most work.

stelagel · August 5, 2021, 1:28pm

My original idea was to build a temple on the frost side of volcano. This difference is so beautiful

At the time I was building this white construction to make a great contrast with the black and the red of the environment, I wanted to use a creative lighting so I fix this lantern.

I liked it a lot and I use them for contrast lighting, to break the white but to match with the environment colors

The temple needed some decor but first I had to create a colossal path so people can visit the temple. After all what is the point on a temple if people cannot visit? So I started building, in this photo you can see only the one third of the colossal path… Why?

PlayStation had psn maintenance, I build this day a lot, over 30.000 foundations. It was a good chance for me to give all my gaming energy to this build. Yet…
The other day I log in to void…
Everything was gone, lost, everything…
For a moment, or a bit more I lost it, I said I quit…
Naaah, I didn’t I fixed another one, smaller thinking of @Ragnaguard wish to see my entry in this competition.

If my entry is not enough to see the top ten I will surely post it here if you allow me @CodeMage

I am not a great builder, but if I have nice builds I give it to all of you that inspire me all this time trough forum and discord. Thank you all

SilvarMorganRosalia · August 5, 2021, 2:04pm

Well found for the lantern!

JJDancer · August 5, 2021, 4:14pm

It is a temple not a whorehouse.

Well done, especially the backstory RP, love it.

JJDancer · August 5, 2021, 4:16pm

It almost looks like the temple of Thulsa Doom, very nice.

CodeMage · August 5, 2021, 4:39pm

This stuff is great! I especially loved that interior shot with the white vaulted ceiling meeting the black vaulted ceiling, and that colossal lamp concept is awesome!

I’d love to see it. And anyway, it’s a public forum, you don’t need my permission. But I really would love to see it

stelagel · August 5, 2021, 5:05pm

I have the exact same opinion about temples. They must be at least huge, low decorated, some greens and statues, huge paths and stairs, careful lighting, so the must of the temple is the God that you pray. After all a God cannot live in tiny house

Yet, this is a game, it should have no rules because it is just an objective fantasy of any individual. Like I said in the beginning these efforts must have creativity and inspiration. I really hope I get 50% of this goal.

JJDancer · August 5, 2021, 5:14pm

The greatest gothic temples of the early and middle ages were pretty stark inside, but magnificent outside. The Basilica of Saint-Denis, Notre-Dame, Cologne, the Cathedral Church of Milan, all were mostly bare inside until the renaissance period.

The focus should always be on the worship of the god of the temple, so I agree, keep it simple inside.

CodeMage · August 5, 2021, 6:46pm

I totally forgot about the gray lotus! Man, that would’ve been great. I was trying to think of something to add in the empty area behind the temple, and I briefly contemplated a garden, but I skipped that because: 1) I was running out of time, and 2) I didn’t think gardens were Derketo’s thing. But gray lotus would’ve been just the thing!

The bottom floor of the Right Hand is the “orgy room”, actually. That’s why there are all the rugs there and pillows on them and divans around. That’s what I meant when I wrote there’s plenty of space to “get busy”

This is where mods would’ve been useful. Vanilla game, with all its DLCs, doesn’t have a lot of applicable decorations of that type. I don’t like the base game tapestries, because they’re pretty threadbare. I wanted the chamber to look classy. Khitan tapestries look classy, but they’re thematically inappropriate. Argossean tapestries are also thematically inappropriate, but even if they were, they look “cardboardy”, not very realistic at all.

Ouch. I forgot about fish, too. That’s an excellent suggestion.

That was literally added on the very last day of working on it. I submitted this entry past midnight in my time zone, with less than 24 hours left before the contest deadline, and I couldn’t stay up too late because I had some important stuff to deal with the next morning.

I wish I could’ve done it fancier, though. Maybe if I hadn’t spent so much time at the beginning of the contest, playing with different concepts for Set and Ymir.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the detailed feedback. Like I said, decoration is not my forte, and I appreciate advice on how to do it better.

I agree, but in my case, the worship was supposed to be very, um, tangible.

I’m relatively happy with the orgy room in the Right Hand, but I’m rather unhappy with the BDSM room in the Left Hand. The vanilla game just doesn’t have enough stuff for that. I couldn’t even put chain bindings on a weapon rack because they don’t get rendered, but at least I could use the Battle Spatula as a decent-looking paddle.

It’s a shame that Riders of Hyboria doesn’t have any whips and crops

Ragnaguard · August 5, 2021, 9:30pm

i would really love to! and it seems promising!!!

i also started a build just to get the spirit of the contest, but when i seen that mods were allowed i stopped it!! i am really curious about what each one of u will come up with , and which religion each will choose!!!
so lets hope to see all entries